Star-Ledger file photoCab fare from New York City to Newark Liberty International Airport would rise $2.50 under a hike proposed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission under a broader fare hike scheme that also includes a 17-percent rise in metered fares on all city cab rides up for a vote on Thursday.

NEW YORK — Cab fare from New York City to Newark Liberty International Airport would rise $2.50 under a hike proposed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission under a broader fare hike scheme that also includes a 17-percent rise in metered fares on all city cab rides up for a vote on Thursday.

The $2.50 increase would be to a $15 surcharge now applied to fares from New York to Newark Liberty, in addition to mileage and tolls. The surcharge, which would rise to $17.50, is intended to offset the expense of time and gas that cabs from New York incur riding back to the city empty, said Allan Fromberg, a commission spokesman.

Airline passengers who need a cab from Newark Liberty are served by a designated local airport fleet, and empty yellow cabs headed back to New York are prohibited from picking up those passengers when heading back to the city, Fromberg said.

The fare hike, which would go into the drivers’ pockets, is scheduled for a vote by commissioner during their Thursday meeting in Lower Manhattan. Fromberg said the last hike was a modest increase in 2006 that has been overtaken by rising gasoline prices and inflation.

The commission’s broader fare proposal would also apply to a flat fare from John F. Kennedy International Airport to or from anywhere in New York City, which would rise from $45 to $52, Fromberg said.

Apart from the higher meter rate, Fromberg said there would be no change to the informal nature of fares from JFK or LaGuardia airports to New Jersey that are now partly negotiated between cabbies and their passengers. In those cases, Fromberg said, drivers charge the metered rate for the New York City portion of the trip – from the airport to the bridge or tunnel – plus whatever additional amount the driver and the driven agree on for the New Jersey leg of the ride.

“The driver is certainly free to negotiate a fare,” said Fromberg. Depending on the negotiations, he added, “The driver has the ability to accept the trip or not accept the trip.”

Fromberg said the commission did not expect negotiations to be any more contentious as a result of the increase in the metered rate.

“Do we anticipate any difficulties?” he said. “I can’t imagine why there would be.”